Mahoning Mandatory Payout
 

Sufficient carry-over in today's pick 6 to inflate pool on final day. Great card, liked sequence enough to forgo partnering (was approached by numerous players) and go solo with significant investment.

Big bummer: Got word this morning of (yet another) quarantine that will result in some 17 (seventeen) scratches. Unreal.

No fan of their parent company, but must feel sympathy for a racing program decimated for weeks (and weeks) by strangles and herpes.

The biggest bummer for me was the late scratch of the morning line favorite in the finale. This was a second time starter who had waltzed to his maiden victory over three opponents. I really liked both the 1 and the 2, turning back routers who were paying $47 and $116 respectively in the Pick 3. They did not post the possible payoffs in the Pick 6. With the scratch of the 8 (the favorite), the Pick Three Prices plunged to $11 and $35. The 1 went odds on and beat the 2. The Pick 6 came back $98. Yes, Very frustrating.

It wasn't until reading this post that the reason for the myriad of recent scratches was given. I would have thought that Matt Hook might have mentioned this in his daily commentary.

I am not looking forward to Belterra and their multiple short-priced winners and short fields. Thankfully, it won't be long until Mountaineer fires back up for the summer, as well as Thistledown (Jack).

Hey, dude. With all respect for your opinion on that final race of Mahoning's season, I saw the 8 horse as an absolute cinch and felt like punching my monitor at simulcast when he flipped in the paddock.

I happened to be bullish on the eventual winner of race seven and after noticing the DD will-pay hovering at an amazing $15 until nearly post time ( I projected that 8 horse in race 8 to end no higher than 1/5, with 1/9 not at all unlikely), I decided, what the heck, let's go hard on my final bet until December and punched a cold 5/8 for $125.

My consolation returned $7.80, but after watching the whole lackluster and pace-less affair wired with supreme difficulty by a somewhat sluggish route horse, I wanted to blow chunks. My 8 horse had not only shown breakaway speed in his only start, but had gotten the final quarter in a super-impressive 25 seconds as favorite.

Again , with all respect, that 8 horse would, in my opinion, probably have left the field. And with the final will-pay on that 5/8 DD having dipped just a little to $12, that paddock scratch cost me $300.

Point well taken, but I guess we will never know.
It's what makes this game interesting.
Have another great Mountaineer meet. I too am a member of "Mountain Nation."

Tx, sir. With quarantines largely rescinded, our races look better than they might have. The opening night (this Sunday) feature, an NC ALW at 4 1/2 furlongs , drew a solid field with no obvious defections looming. So it should hold together.

Beyond that, expect to see some outfits new to Mnr this spring. And word is some locals that laid low this winter and eschewed the Austintown action plan to go full Maximus and unleash HELL from the jump.

Love this little venue, particularly in the bad cold weather